The Q1 2024 benchmarking report for UK blinds and shutters brands has just been published. Learn how the top 11 UK blinds and shutters brands perform across the digital space.
The latest Q1 2024 benchmarking report for UK blinds and shutters suppliers has just been published. It covers the largest 11 national blinds and shutters brands, including Hillarys, Blinds 2Go, Blinds Direct, Just Shutters, 247 Blinds, Eclipse Blinds, Shuttercraft, Homefair Blinds & Shutters, Shutterly Fabulous, Perfect Shutters, and Plantation Shutters.
The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online, and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other blinds and shutters brands to win brand exposure locally, drive online views, and generate orders. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.
To see a preview and contents page of the Q1 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call. 
Q1 2024 WINNERS LEADERBOARD
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 11 blinds and shutters brands on, check out our quick-look table below;
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing UK blinds and shutters brands or request a copy of the report for the full review.
What The Industry Research Report Covers
The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each site based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.
Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels
Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.
Technical Website Compliance
Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Having a technically sound website will ensure potential customers can find the information and products they're looking for when it comes to browsing for new blinds and shutters.
In our last report, Just Shutters flagged for 279 4xx errors, and it has reduced this figure to 81 in the Q1 2024 audit. On the other hand, Shuttercraft has increased its 4xx errors from 6 in the last quarter to 244 in this report, which could suggest a broken link (or links) in the footer that must be addressed.
Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance
When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. While site speed might not seem the most pressing issue for brands within the home interiors sector, blinds and shutters brands will still benefit from having a fast site which instills a positive impression of the brand from first click.
The mobile site speed ranged between 65 and 16, with 8 of the 11 brands scoring below 50% (what’s considered ‘good’). The good news is that there are simple fixes these brands can make to increase their mobile site speed, such as compressing their images and using fewer or smaller images.
Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority
Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Blinds and shutters brands have a wealth of opportunity to build backlinks and improve their domain authority, and can work with external publications and bloggers to build trust, visibility, and referral traffic.
A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it is generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. The DA rating for this quarter was between 63 and 4.9, with Homefair Blinds & Shutters sitting at the bottom again — and with a slight decrease from the last quarter. This brand has the lowest number of backlinks, and it must adopt a PR strategy to help increase its DA score.
Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop
A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Only two blinds and shutters brands in our report have gained organic traffic year on year, which is unsurprising due to the cost of living crisis and need for many consumers to cut back on luxuries and outgoings.
We’re pleased to reveal that 3 of the 11 brands encountered an increase in organic mobile traffic year on year, which is an improvement from the last quarter where only Shuttercraft had an increase. This brand continues to hold the top position this quarter with a 97% increase in traffic.
Universal Search Opportunity
Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a site can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. Brands within home improvement sectors, such as blinds and shutters, should look particularly to Image Pack results as an opportunity to display products from the SERP itself, and entice users to visit their site.
Hillarys has moved up on the scoreboard to position one for the most appearances for Universal Search results — from position 6/11 in the last report. Hillarys received most of its appearances from the ‘Image’ category followed by ‘Reviews’.
The Longtail Keyword Opportunity
Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for brand new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Blinds and shutters brands should be looking at high-potential keywords which show a strong conversion intention, such as 'buy blinds with fitting' or 'window shutters next day installation'.
Hillarys continues to hold the number one spot for the most longtail keywords overall, and Blinds2go and Blinds Direct continue to out-perform Hillarys in the top three results. But in this quarter, 247 Blinds also surpasses Hillarys in the top three results. Hillarys needs to optimise its keyword strategy if it wants to increase its appearances in the top three search engine results.
Facebook Adverts
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019. Facebook ads are a great way for blinds and shutters brands to reach people who are specifically looking to make improvements to their homes.
We’ve included three examples of Blinds 2go’s Facebook posts. This includes a combination of two vertical videos and a carousel. Carousels have been shown to perform better than single-image ads, which should increase Blinds 2go’s engagement.
Top Social Shares & Content
When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your brand engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Blinds and shutters brands can use social media to join in with trending homeware images and content, such as sharing seasonal styling inspiration along with any offers or sales events they're holding.
Most brands favour Facebook, while 247 Blinds opts for Pinterest — a channel that’s effective in link bait. Blinds 2go has the most Facebook likes (99,400), though Hillarys is only a few thousand behind at 95,000. Blinds 2go also has the most Instagram followers at 185,100 and the highest total social media engagement, which is an important component in ensuring that a brand’s online audience is active and interested in its content.
Website Readability & Accessibility
20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, brands lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. For blinds and shutters brands, while it may be tempting to favour visuals over function, care should be taken that their site remains accessible and easy to read.
In our last audit, Blinds Direct flagged for 196 alerts, which has increased to 219 in this quarter. Upon closer inspection, these alerts are mainly from suspicious alternative text and redundant links. Alternative text that is not accurate means that someone with a screen reader will not experience a true interpretation of what’s on the website.
GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q1 2024 REPORT
To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Mike Movassaghi.
Photo by Matt Alaniz on Unsplash
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